Mmmmmkay. It sounds like you kinda painted yourself into a corner there with your expectations and criteria of what would make you happy when drinking wine while dining out.

No, you completely misunderstand. Completely.

I'm merely pointing out the obvious - that certain basic expectations about proper wine service simply cannot be expected at most establishments - and then have offered simple strategies to improve your experience.

Red wine served too warm? Ask for an ice bucket with little ice/mostly water. It will chill it down quickly. Well, what about decanting? Are you seriously going to wait for that freshly opened bottle to fully decant? Of course not. You'd be there hours before you could pour your first glass.

See? Simple. Painted into a corner? Hardly. Merely acknowledging reality and doing my best to improve upon it.

I'm merely pointing out the obvious - that certain basic expectations about proper wine service simply cannot be expected at most establishments - and then have offered simple strategies to improve your experience.

Red wine served too warm? Ask for an ice bucket with little ice/mostly water. It will chill it down quickly. Well, what about decanting? Are you seriously going to wait for that freshly opened bottle to fully decant? Of course not. You'd be there hours before you could pour your first glass.

See? Simple. Painted into a corner? Hardly. Merely acknowledging reality and doing my best to improve upon it.

Big timers call the somm earlier in the week so the wine will be decanted prior to them arriving.

I'm merely pointing out the obvious - that certain basic expectations about proper wine service simply cannot be expected at most establishments - and then have offered simple strategies to improve your experience.

Red wine served too warm? Ask for an ice bucket with little ice/mostly water. It will chill it down quickly. Well, what about decanting? Are you seriously going to wait for that freshly opened bottle to fully decant? Of course not. You'd be there hours before you could pour your first glass.

See? Simple. Painted into a corner? Hardly. Merely acknowledging reality and doing my best to improve upon it.

My apologies, then. I suppose it was your last statement about "In the end, there are but a handful of restaurants where I'd be willing to purchase a truly good bottle and pay the markup. You just can't expect proper wine service at most places." and my assumption of what a "good bottle" was and the amount of service would be appropriate enough for this bottle.

How can you possibly be a professional bartender and not know how to mix a basic cocktail? It's beyond me. If I were so inept in the very basics of my profession I'd be fired within a week. Someday I'm going to come up with a ranking of the seven circles of bartending hell. It will involve the following levels in some order or another... --Responds to any martini order with the question "do you want that dirty?" --Does not stock or does not know if they stock bitters behind the bar. --Does not stock or does not know if they stock vermouth behind the bar. Feel free to add your own.

How can you possibly be a professional bartender and not know how to mix a basic cocktail? It's beyond me. If I were so inept in the very basics of my profession I'd be fired within a week. Someday I'm going to come up with a ranking of the seven circles of bartending hell. It will involve the following levels in some order or another... --Responds to any martini order with the question "do you want that dirty?" --Does not stock or does not know if they stock bitters behind the bar. --Does not stock or does not know if they stock vermouth behind the bar. Feel free to add your own.

Look at you blankly when you request a Canadian whisky in your manhattan. Comes back and says they don't have any Canadian whisky, when you can see CC sitting right there. Asks what type of vodka you'd like in your martini. You know what? In 10 or 15 years, we all need to pick a city and open up a VTR equivalent.